L'arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat (1896)

Directors:

Auguste Lumière
Louis Lumière

Release Date:

1897 (Turkey)

Genre:

Short | Documentary

Plot:

Another of the Lumiere Brothers' one-shot films, this time showing a steam train arriving at a station...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Railway Station

Also Known As:

Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (USA)
L'arrivée du train en gare de La Ciotat (France)
The Arrival of the Mail Train

Runtime:

1 min

Country:

France

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.31 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

La Ciotat, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Company:

Lumière

Trivia:

Generally considered to be the first motion picture in modern history (although more an experiment from the Lumière brothers to use their 'invention' of film, it shows a train arriving at a passenger station... and that's it).

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood" (1995)

One of the Most Enduring Images Of Cinema's Earliest Years

This footage of the "Arrival of a Train" is one of the most enduring images of the earliest years of cinema. The often-repeated accounts of the startled reactions to this movie from early audiences, along with the ways that such reactions were commemorated in other early movies such as "The Countryman and the Cinematograph", have made it one of the best-known of the earliest movies, and beyond that, the film in itself accomplishes its own aim very well.

The Lumières discovered very quickly how effective motion towards the camera could be, and that idea is certainly used to good effect here. The diagonal direction of the motion, necessitated by the material being filmed, gives it a distinctive character. Compared with the train, the crowd reactions here are a bit less interesting than they are in some of the other Lumière features that include crowds who know they are being filmed. A couple of them do acknowledge the camera as they go about their business.

Yet even today, the train grabs the viewer's notice, so that the crowd and other details get much less attention. That in itself shows how effectively this enduring classic was able to carry out an interesting idea.